WASHINGTON: The House Foreign Committee’s subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific held a hearing to discuss the foreign aid to South Asia on April 28,1993. The hearing, a part of the foreign aid package discussions, is particularly important for the two major countries of the subcontinent, India and Pakistan. India’s human rights record in both Kashmir and Punjab was severely criticized in a room full of congressional aids, embassy officials from South Asian countries and press reporters. This hearing was put together by Robert Hathaway, a professional Staff member of the Committee under the leadership of Congressman Gary Ackerman (DNY), the chairman of the Committee. Many human rights activists noted this as a welcome change from past years. Congressman Solarz, the past chairman of the Committee had resisted attempts to hold such hearings.

The list of speakers at this week’s hearing included John Maloit, principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South Asia; Frederick Smith, Deputy Asst. Secretary of Defense former caster and South Asian Affairs (Acting); Representative from the U.S, Agency for International Development (AID); Michael Reese of the Woodrow Wilson Center; Holly Burkhalter, director of the Washington office of Human Rights Watch (of which Asia Watch is a branch), and James Clad of the Comedic Endowment, a political think tank based in Washington. John Malott of State Department said that, “human rights has become an important issue in our dialogue with the Indian government” in line with the overall foreign policy directives of President Bill Clinton and Secretary of

State Warren Christopher, “We believe that the Indian government understands it’s a situation they are going to have to deal with,” emphasized Malott.

He insisted that India’s terrorist act (TADA) was in appropriate, adding: “We are very concerned about (its) over use, We think it is used in states where there is, fact, nothing happening of the nature for which we believe the law was originally written,” The hearing, which was supposed to be on foreign aid to South Asia, was instead entirely focused on the issue of human rights in India. Congressman Dan Burton, author of the bill targeting India on its human rights record, said that, “the time for quiet diplomacy is over.” “We as a nation cannot continue to ignore the contempt that the Indian government has for human rights,” the Indiana Republican insisted. Burton further insisted that aid to India should not be approved.

But Malott did not favor linking aid to India with its human rights performance on the ground that most of the aid was humanitarian, “1 would be hard pressed to state why the poorest of the poor in India should be made to pay the price of human rights abuses that are being committed by the security forces,” he declared.

That comment was in response to a question by Rep. Gary Ackerman as to whether the administration supported the Burton bill calling fora halt in aid if India did not revoke five acts giving extraordinary powers to the armed and paramilitary forces, Malott replied that the Administration had considered the bill, but “we do not have a formulated position on it.” Gary Ackerman, on the question of humanitarian aid, equated this to the Reagan Administration’s hesitation in punishing the South African government giving the same reasoning of poor being hurt by aid cut off. The State Dept. representative, Malott sounded shaken by that comparison.

Holly Burkhalter of Human Rights Watch accused India of “helping foment ethnic and communal violence which has fueled the rising tensions throughout the country.”

“The U.S. must continue to press for genuine human rights reforms in India and work with its allies to insure that India take steps to end abuses by its security forces in Kashmir and throughout the country.”

Asia Watch called for halting military contacts between the two countries, including the international military education and training program, commercial military sales for 1993, which are estimated at $54.6 million and all sales under the foreign military sales program, estimated at $40 million. “U.S. should also make India a priority at the United Nations Human Rights Commission,” Burkhalter urged.

Pakistan has introduced such resolutions, but its own poor human rights record and the arming of militant groups in Kashmir make it a poor sponsor, she acknowledged.

Highlight of the hearing came when Cong Gary Ackerman asked the witnesses as to whether there will be new members of U.N. coming for South Asia in the next five years. James Clad answered by saying that “India will not be able to retain Kashmir for too long.” “But the rest of India might still survive as a one unit,” he asserted.

Holly Burkhalter while speaking on Punjab said, “In Punjab the government claims that “normalcy” has been restored to the state, the insurgency crushed and local and state elections held, However, that “normalcy” has been achieved at the cost of hundreds of disappearances and summary executions, usually called “encounter killings,” of civilian and suspected militants. Torture in Punjab remains wide spread, and when Asia Watch and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) visited Punjab in October 1992, we documented a sharp in crease in the number of disappearances of young men taken into, police custody. To our knowledge, the government has not investigated any of these abuses.”

“In fact, many of the police responsible for torture, disappearances and executions of detainees in Punjab have been promoted to senior positions. Given the appalling level of state sanctioned abuse in Punjab, the achievement of “normalcy” in the state cannot be a model of any kind for the resolution of the Kashmir conflict,” she asserted,

Human rights organizations had circulated reports of human rights violations in India prior to the hearing. International Human Rights Organization based in Punjab had also circulated a letter highlighting violations and urging members to raise those questions. PHR circulated a letter de tailing the case of Kulwant Singh Sainia Sikh lawyer, who has been killed by the Punjab police, Saint’s wife and two year child were also murdered by the police. Congressman Rohrabacher of California raised the question of self-determination of Sikhs and Kashmir and compared those situations to the American struggle for independence. Cong, Matthew Martinez, democrat from California contended that the draconian laws like TADA and NSA, have given New Delhi the powers of a martial law regime. He demanded the State Department representative recommend cutting aid to India on those grounds. Dr.Rajwant Singh, President of IHRO North America, said “we are pleased with the whole proceedings and hope that this will send a strong signal to the Indian government to stop its human rights practices.” “We are concerned about the safety of human rights activists in punjab. The cases of Mohinder Grewal, secretary of IHRO and Saini indicate that they are next target of the Indian government Indian government wants to silence the voices of these people so that India does not become the focus of such hearings,” Dr. Singh declared. ‘

Article extracted from this publication >>  May 14, 1993